Fastener for railroad tracks



Feb. 18, 1941. o. 1'. PoRT'r-:

` FASTENER Fon RAILROAD Tmxs Filed June 28, 1959 A iomeys Patented Feb. 18, 1941 IfI-A'TENT OFFICE iFOR :RAIDRQAD TRACKS Qliver lorter, BattomMd. Application June 28, 1939, ,SerialNm 281,744

1 claim. (creas-.9347) This invention relates to fasteners for mine railroad tracks, and has for the primary object the provision of a device of this character which .will permit easy and quick assembling and securing together of rails and ties of a mine railroad track, eliminating the use of fish plates and similar devices and which eiciently maintains the rails at a selected gauge and may be easily adjusted to compensate for wear and may be manufactured at a low cost and will be durable and permit the rails to be easily taken up and relaid when necessary to extend or readjust the track in the mine.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had to the followingdescription and accompanying drawing, in which Figure I is a fragmentary tcp plan view illustrating a portion of a railroad tie and a rail secured on said tie by fasteners constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the adjacent ends of rails secured together and to the tie by the present invention.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the use of wedge plates at each side of the rail when necessary.

Figure 4 is a sectional View taken on the line 4 4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a perspective view illustrating the wedge plate.

Figure 6 is a perspective view illustrating a restraining or abutment block.

Figure '7 is a fragmentary top plan view illustrating the application of the invention to a curved rail and tie. r

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 5 indicates the ties and 6 the rails of a railroad track used in mines and similar places. The ties and rails are of a conventional construction and are joined together through the use of the present invention which consists of a restraining or abutment block 1 and a Wedge plate 8. It is preferable that the abutment block I be constructed of wood to reduce manufacturing cost and has a portion of its bottom face disposed straight, as shown at 9, to rest evenly on a tie while the other portion is cut or beveled, as shown at I6, to form a rail engaging face and a shoulder II. One of the vertical walls of the block is to engage with the rail, this wall being indicated by the rcharacter I2. The bl-ock 'I is provided with openings I3 to receive rivets I4 which extend through the tie or may receive bolts that are carried by the tie and have nuts threaded thereon after the application of the block. It is pref- 5 erable that the block be employed upon the outside of the rail and when applied to the tie, as shown in Figure 4, the portion S of the bottom Wall rests evenly upon the tie with the shoulder II abutting the base of the rail and the beveled face I0 overlying and contacting the top face of the base of the rail with the wall I2 of the block abutting the web of the rail with the top face slightly below the tread or ball of the rail. The length of the mock for a single tie is approximately the width of the tie. However, when it is desired to join adjacent ends of the rails as shown in Figure 2 the block length is increased so as to be secured to a pair of ties and is provided with openings to receive bolts or like fasteners I5 which extend through the rails at the adjacent ends thereof.

The tie on the inner side of the rail has a rivet or bolt I6 extending therethrough and this rivet operates in a slot I7 formed in the wedge plate 8. The length of the wedge plate is slightly greater than the width of the tie and the slot I'I eX- tends diagonally of the wedge plate and one end terminates in an opening I8 of a size to permit 30 the head `of the rivet I 6 to pass freely therethrough. The bottom wall of the wedge plate has a flat face I9 to rest on the tie and a beveled or inclined face to overlie and engage the base of the rail and to abut the web of the rail. In the application of the wedge plate 8, the rivet is passed through the opening I8 and enters the slot I1 and by driving on one end of the wedge plate the latter will be forced into wedging engagement with the rail forcing the latter tightly against the abutment block 'I and thereby efciently securing the rails on the tie. Through the use of the wedge plate it permits the rail to be easily and quickly secured to the tie and to be detached from the tie whenever necessary and having its bottom face formed with a flat portion` for resting on the tie and the rest of the bottom' f face being beveled to engage a base portion vof one side of the rail with the junction of the bevel portion with the flat portion forming' a shoulder for engaging the side edge ofthe .base 'of the" rail, that side edge of the block between ltheA beveled lower face and the upper face engaging a portion of the'Web of the railand extended to a point but slightly below the tread of the rail, fasteners for connecting the block to the tie, said fasteners passing through the block outwardly of the base of the rail, a plate of considerable thickness having a i'laft top face and its lower face having a at outer portion for engaging a tie and the rest of the bottom face being beveled to engage a top portion of the other side of the rail base with the inner edge of the plate between the beveled portion and the top face bearing against the lower portion yof the web-fof the rail, said plate having a diagonal slot therein, that end of -the slot closest to the beveled edge of the plate being made in the form of a circular hole and a headedfastener member passing through the tie and through said slot with its head passing through the circular hole when said hole is brought into register with the head, said plate beinglonger than the width of the tie.

OLIVER T. PORTER. 

